The San Saba news. [volume] (San Saba, Tex.) 1873-1966, 1887-01-21
s
THE ROMANO |
WESTERN
Fighting Fcarlcssly in ID
Treasure Carried by
Coaches, Bat WhccdIes
n Pretty woman5

Fighting Fcarlcssly in Isa
Treasure Carried by =
Coaches. But WhecdI e.
Pretty Woman
The recent death of shotgun Jimmy
Brown, at Helena, has been g1neralIy
deplored in this Territory. sayJa Mon
tana letter 10 the New York .SRnt Brown
was famous character in this section
for many years, and IN his capacity as a
shotgun messenger on stage epaches,
| guarding treasure boxes, he probabl had
more fights with road agents than any
other man who ever held that post. His
death, which came after protracted suf-
fering, was due TO wounds received in
the service. Speaking Of him an old
timer said:
did any of you fellows ever hear of
Shotgun Jimmy's romance. No; I'll
| bet you didn't He had one, though, as
big as life. remember when he came
to these parts, more than twenty years
ago, and went to work as n messenger for
Gilmer and Salisbury. That was before
he had been peppered up the way he was
when he died, and he was about as good
looking a younssteT as was to be seen
here. He was a error, though, on a
coach. l never saw his equal. lie could
shoot more times and in more directions
in given time than any man VINO ever
watched box. 1t got so there at ono
spell that the agents would Jus, ieaTe
things alone if they found Jimmy ageard,
and, as r-rir, Wien NJ W. esll:s al. n
was by new men. | have knowushotgun
| messengers who did not shoot any too
quick, but nobody ever found fault with
Jimmy on this score.
'Well, what l started ont to say was
that Jimmy had deal with a mighty
pretty girl once He was down in Nir-
ginia City, aud WAS to escort a treasure
coach through to Helena. The country
was full of tough citizens-that was be.
fore the boys tied up the gang by the
. necks-and it was known that stages
with money aboard were almost certain
| to be attacked. On the coach coming up
was a young lady in deep mourning,
about the pretticst girl that we had ever
seen here, and as there was no treasure
aboard Jimmy got pretty well aquainted
| with her. She could not have been more
| than twenty-six or twenty-seven years
Olu anu SIt WAS lAAL HdHusbllt that
when she got to the tavern at Virginia
I City the boys went into the dining room
and ate an extra supper ali around Just
for the chance of seeing her. Jimmy
( had learned something about her Sha
told him that she was widow, and that
her GRAND was 20 find a Colonel Savage,
who was said to be in this section. lie
was her uncle and the administrator of
her fathers estate, and business matters
made it necessary that she should see
him Jimmy didn't know any such ran.
but he said he might be around for all
| that. That evening he was very atten-
| tive to her, and most of the boys hung
about the place half inclined to be-fal-
Gus. - =,
"The next morning just a,
was ready to start and Ji-S
shotgun was standing bycG
treasure box having 80 -
the driver being in -, inc wang
- -" ~anfede ES-'e1rn and would be
T In,li In ten minuIs if the stage would
ut .ssbe driver grumblcd, but Jimmy
~ Nj the girl soon made her APP
DhSc were no other passen-
= Dlffter sic bad been s-a'ed, tho
8srsspped mp, hat in hand, and sad
6ye, while some of thcm-Iack
rgus was one of them, remember
Rwent so far as TO express regret that she
was not to stay longer. She langhingiy
| replied that she might return and waved
q little handkerchief out of the coach
window as it rolled away That was
the last We ever saw of her.
h. ~
all thought he was the luckiest
nat ever struck Montana.
lot me tell you something. Less
a.. after that pretty little
out of Virginia City look
in. and ~entle a lamb, she was
bolu &c OF i big pistols at his
oar and he wa two ways for
Sunday. I'm afrm4 ISN'T watching
things as close rs he
but nobody blamed ]
. We'd sec a woman like
we would flock of angels,
was only man. lie rode on l.
of the coach most OF the way until 81,
the middle of the afternoon, when -
got out Then she complained of lonei-
ness and fear, and after a while he got
inside again. Not many minutes after
that there was volley and yell, tho
horses coming to a sudden halt. Jimmy's
hand was on his gun, aud he WIS Just on
the Point of making jump when the
fair one BY his side raised ore Of his re-
volvers which she had quickly removed
from his belt, and witha savage No you
don'tr leyeled it at his head. For a
second Jimmy didn't know which
way to turn, but it was only sec
ond. The driver was good one,
and he was already at work with n
Colts revolver. Without hesitating
Jimmy tried dangerous experiment.
As he held his shot gun, its niuzzle
Dointed out Of the window where the
girl sat. lie saw at a glance that to fire
il would not kill her, but that it could
be discharged so as to scare the life out
of her providing she was not 4 regular
wild cat. which he didn't bel eve she
was. A good deal quicker than can
tell it he pulled the trigger, at the same
moment reaching for the revolver which
the Young woman held. knocking it out
of her hand. The crash of the gun was
terrific. and as ii went of not more than
eighteen inches from her nose it para
lived her. She fell back on the seat in
a dead fit, and Jimmy, grabbing his
irons, was on the ground in jiify. Well,
the minute the agents saw him in fight
ing trim they took TO cover and he after
them They Kept up lively firing for
few minutes and then Jimmy went back
to the stage, expecting to find the girl
there, hut she had disappeared The
driver, who had remounted his box aud
was holding the lines in his teeth while
he stood guard with two big revolvers,
had not seen her leave, but it was evil
dent that she had crept out very stealth
lily and made short cut for the timber.
On the floor OF the stage was n little gold
ia=sle which had been lost from the
Young woman's watchchain, and Jimmy
picked it up and wore it for n long time
After satisfying himself that the agents
had made fizzle of it. he drove on and
made the rest ofthe trip in safety
The boys had heap of fun with jun
my about that girl, but he took it good
naturally. lie owned up sometimeaf after
ward that he had proposed marriage and